Netherlands, A Trip to Remember ...

The last trip to Netherlands was great! Yes I said last cause I am back in NL for another 3 weeks. But I did my homework by posting the pictures of my earlier trip up on Facebook! I was supposed to be there for like 3 weeks. So I know, 21 days in Netherlands ... almost 6 days of weekend ... soo little time to do soo much! When I reached KLIA, I received my first gift of my trip, my ticket being upgraded to 1st Class from Business Class! Apparently the seat which I was allocated earlier had problems in their in flight entertainment system. After talking with his supervisor, the guy at the check in counter told me the good news that my seat has been upgraded. Woohoo kick ass experience for my first MAS experience! First class seat, first class lounge .. and first class treatment .. ahh nice! 12 hours later, reality kicked in and *poof* I have reached Amsterdam.

The second I stepped out of the plane I could just feel the cold breeze blowing down my neck .. ahhh now this is what I call weather! The very first thing I did when I reached my Hotel was to subscribe for my internet access. Cant live without em for sure! After a nice hot bath in the tub (yea they have a lovely long tub in my room .. ahhh .. ok back to the topic), I went online to see what I can do in the coming weekend. After an hour or so, I came upon this link http://www.iamsterdam.com/_exploring/what, answered a question online and I won tickets for the Film1 Rembrandt Movie Award presentation! Woohoo! But then again I thought, ''Yea I will be one of those many people cramped up in a little are watching how those celebrities walking down the red carpet and stuff''. But then again its free so heck just go for it right.

10th March, I am on my way to Amsterdam for the Rembrandt Movie awards, thinking, ''What would it be like over there?''. After spending like 45 minutes trying to find this place called "Arena Hotel", I found this small one building structure. No one will ever think its a hotel, surely but hey it says Arena Hotel alright. Then I saw from a distance .. the red carpet. All smiles only face indeed. I walked on the red carpet en route to the main hall, only to realize no one snapped my picture walking on it ?! #!#$ Hello, its the red carpet entrance for gods sake! Pfft, anyway, when I reached inside the hall, I saw a small crowd of probably between 40-50 people having a glass of champagne and talking to each other (in Dutch). Some were dressed to kill, some were dressed like road kills .. good mix of both I guess. As usual I was lost cause seems like I am the only non-Dutch speaking person there. Out of the blues, a lady came over and talked to me. She then introduced me to another person and in return another person. More like social networking in the flesh the way I looked at it. I then wonder, mmm could these be contest winners too or maybe they are from the media. I was really enjoying their company .. nice humble people. In no time, awards show began.

The winners for the best foreign actor (Johnny Depp), actress (Keira-Knightley) and movie(Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End) award was announced. It was not surprising that there was no representatives present to accept the award, however they managed to play a recording of Johnny and Keira accepting the award on video. That was good enough for me.

Soon enough was time for the Dutch categories nominations. Best Dutch Female actress for 2007 goes to, Carice van Houten, and she's that one person I spoke to earlier! Then it hit me, these people are neither contest winners nor media representatives, they ARE the Dutch actors and actresses, in the flesh! Soon enough winners of the other nominations were actually the same people who either spoke or was standing somewhere a feet away from me! And I must say, these are really really humble people. Then I met and had a brief chat with Wendy van Dijk, supposedly the J-Lo of Netherlands, due to her popularity and her own clothing line, W&D. My camera went crazy that nice .. snap snap snap!

It was a great night to remember, and I know I am going to annoy a few people once I show the pictures to them when I return to KL (in which I have successfully accomplished, *evil grin*). Other than that, I went for tours all over Netherlands in two days! Netherlands is quiet a small country but very very beautiful. Given the chance, you could come here one day! Aright my fingers are beginning to ache now so off I go! Ciao

March Netherlands Trip Pictures
Pictures from KLIA Airport, City of Den Haag aka The Hague (Where i stay) and snow in Netherlands
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=3651&l=898c6&id=1068586702

Scheveningen Beach & De Rembrandt Hoeve (Clog & Cheese Factories) p/s: clogs are wooden shoes
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=3652&l=35069&id=1068586702


Pictures of Amsterdam, Delft & Volendam
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=3653&l=554ef&id=1068586702

Pictures from Madurodam (Miniture city of Netherlands)
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=3655&l=be27b&id=1068586702

Pictures from Film1 Rembrandt Movie Awards (I won exclusive tickets for it, and found out later I'm the only one who won tickets!)
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=3658&l=2a8fc&id=1068586702

Pictures from Madame Tussaud (Wax Museum)
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=3656&l=a1605&id=1068586702

Pictures from Rotterdam Zoo
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=3659&l=dbdda&id=1068586702

Pictures from Mercure Den Haag (The hotel I'm staying)
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=3661&l=12440&id=1068586702

Netherlands .. The Journey Begins ..

As some of you may have known by now, I have been sent to the Netherlands to work for 3 weeks. I must admit there is an equal amount of mixed feelings in me .. but as days went by, things ended up pretty good. I have learnt soo much in the past 12 days. Here are a few things worth mentioning:

1. Holland is NOT the name of this country. The actual name of the country is The Netherlands. The Netherlands is the ‘‘European Part” of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which consists of The Netherlands, the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba in the Caribbean (which means these three countries forms the Kingdom of Netherlands … two countries in Europe and one in the Caribbean)

2. There is no such thing as Dutch language .. people here aren’t known as Dutch ... it has nothing to do with Netherlands! Surprise surprise. Here’s something from wikipedia :

Netherlands (terminology)

The Netherlands is known under various terms both in English and other languages. These are used to describe the different overlapping geographical, linguistic and political areas of the Netherlands. This is often a source of confusion for people from other parts of the world. In English the country is called ‘the Netherlands’ (or frequently ‘Holland’), while the people and the language are called ‘Dutch’. Note that in Dutch the official (and predominant) terms for these are ‘Nederland’ for the country, ‘Nederlanders’ for the people and ‘Nederlands’ for the language, although they are occasionally (colloquially) called ‘Holland’, ‘Hollanders’ and ‘Hollands’ respectively.

3. If you think you can do hell over amount of shopping here, think again. Most shops closes at 6pm daily, except Thursday (this will be the next point), and maybe weekends. So by the time u get your ass back from work, don’t even think of heading some place to buy that pretty blouse cause there wont be any soul selling em that time!

4. I finally think I understand the reason why Thursday is known as ladies night aka party night. Most companies in EU and America (from the ones I know) have an option not to work on some alternate Fridays. Its like you work an extra hour everyday so that you can take alternate Friday’s off. So what happens on that Thursday night? party all night long.. cause they know they can afford to get a hangover the next day. But some country (ahem Malaysia) adopted this Thursday night thingy and made a hype about it .. so the guys and gals party their butt out on Thursday only to realize .... ‘‘crap I work on Fridays!!’’ ... Malaysia boleh!

Bla bla bla .. soo much to tell but I am sleepy now. Will catch up soon tomorrow, cause I know I have much to tell about this NL trip, especially what happened on Monday ... hehe